"I fell in with the right crowd": Dai Greene on how athletics helped control his epilepsy and curb his partying

"I fell in with the right crowd": Dai Greene on how athletics helped control his epilepsy and curb his partying

He is now one of the golden boys of British athletics but things could have been different for World Champion Dai Greene.

Diagnosed with epilepsy at 17, the teenager was devastated when doctors said he’d have to give up his boozy late nights out with his mates.

But Dai quickly found the thing that was to save him â€" an incredible talent for ­athletics.

He turned his life around and is now one of the brightest Team GB medal hopes at London 2012.

The 26-year-old, who became the 400-metre ­hurdles world champion last year, says it was only the chance ­discovery of his hurdling ability that helped him control his condition.

“It was my lifestyle that had to change and I had the reason to do that with athletics â€" a reason that I’d never had before,” explains Dai.

“And I wanted to be the best athlete I possibly could.”

A talented footballer, Dai joined Swansea City at just 13.

But after training and playing for several years in the youth team â€" and even scoring a ­penalty against Real Madrid â€" he fell out of love with the game and quit.

Success: With the gold medal he won in Daegu

Without football in his life, at the age of 17, Dai started going out with his friends in his hometown of Llanelli, Wales, and he soon found out that he had ­epilepsy.

“With football gone, I was ­discovering girls, I went out every Saturday ­without fail with my mates and I was really enjoying myself,” he ­remembers.

“I went round to my friend’s house on New Year’s Eve for a party and their parents were there so I didn’t drink too much or anything like that.

“But the next day I was playing computer games and an hour later I woke up in hospital.

"My younger brother Danny said I just fell off the bed. I have no memory of it at all.

"The doctors said: ‘You seem to have had an epileptic seizure’, which was a bit strange as it didn’t run in my family, although Danny’s since developed it, too.

“That was on New Year’s Day in 2003, but it didn’t happen again for about a year and a half.

"The next time it happened was when I was away with my mates in Magaluf, ­Majorca.

“We’d been out the night before â€" not going crazy â€" and were leaving the hotel to go to the beach, when I had a seizure at the front of the hotel and fell on the concrete floor.

"I had to go to ­hospital as I cracked loads of teeth and cut my face open. Everyone thought I’d been in a fight.”

Dai explains that epileptics don’t realise what’s going on when they’re having a seizure. He says: “You just wake up really tired and aching.

“It’s worse for those who have to watch you convulsing.

"I had a few more during the next few years, and every time I had one it was from lack of sleep or when my sleeping was ­interrupted.

"But I didn’t let it dictate my life because I was partying hard before I went to university.”

Hurdles: Dai at the World Championships

Luckily, Dai refound his sporting ability at the ­University of Bath.

“Basically, I found ­athletics,” he says. “I fell in with the right crowd and for the next four years I just learned more about the sport.

“Epilepsy wasn’t an issue because I chose not to go out partying on purpose.

"I also persuaded my specialist to let me stop taking my medication â€" sodium ­valproate â€" as it made me drowsy.

"I was lucky I fell into athletics at that stage because I wouldn’t have changed my lifestyle for the epilepsy.”

It was a path that may lead to Olympic glory. Dai’s gold medal at the World ­Championships in Daegu, South Korea, propelled him to the top of world ­athletics, but he hasn’t let success go to his head.

He says: “It was what I’d worked towards for a number of years â€" it wasn’t just an overnight success. It was the proudest moment of my life .”

Dai receives funding from the National Lottery, which allows him to concentrate on his training, but he knows that in an Olympic year, he has to control what he does â€" and ultimately control his epilepsy.

“I still have to be incredibly sensible in what I do with early nights, no booze and frequent meals as hunger is a trigger,” he says.

“Even when I have an off period, I can’t go too crazy because the threat of having a seizure doesn’t go away.

“As long as you’re focused and ­dedicated â€" especially in a sport â€" there’s no reason it should dictate your life.”

Epilepsy is the most common ­neurological disorder in childhood, with more than 60,000 ­children and young people affected in the UK.

Dai, an ambassador for charity Young Epilepsy, adds: “It’s hard when you’re young. There’s not too much awareness of it in schools and people don’t realise what’s happening.

“If I share a room with someone at a championships, the first thing I do is say, ‘I suffer from epilepsy so don’t be worried if I’m sat making noises or whatever, just make sure I don’t hurt myself’.

"You have to make people aware of it, they’re not going to judge you.”

Click here for more information on Young Epilepsy .